some feds prefer to send weaker reps to a particular event for other reasons ( stronger home court advantange or travel cost expenses ? ), also China hasn't send anyone on Lake Placid ? though I agree anything can happen here as no one is really a clear frontrunner maybe Miyahara, I am more interested how Hicks will be doing coming from her injury.

May be, russian federation of figure skating is afraid of this event.
Miyahara, three americans, So Youn Park.
We newer underestimate american skaters, especially at home. "At home and native walls help" - tells russian prowerb.

8 hours difference of time - Ladies SP starts at 10 p.m. of Moscow time, when skaters go to bed to get up at 06 a.m. (trainings often are at wery early time). Ladies FS starts at 0 a.m. of Moscow time, when they all sleep.
It is not good - to skate at the time when you at home sleep.

USA's Angela Wang has been landing 3Lz+3T consistently in competition this summer and I expect/hope she will do well in Lake Placid. She has the highest summer competition total score of the LP competitors and of the U.S. club competitions I've been tracking in my blog:

Plus Lake Placid, NY, is a pain in the neck to get to from everywhere, even from Vermont the next door state. If you were going to avoid sending competitors somewhere, IMO, Lake Placid would be one of the ones to consider.

Plus Lake Placid, NY, is a pain in the neck to get to from everywhere, even from Vermont the next door state.

It is not a great problem for foreign skaters - International Airport of New York, about 300-400 miles to north to Adirondack Regional Airport, 16 miles to Lake Placid. Or even faster if charter flight to Lake Placid Airport.
If comparing to flight from Europe - no problem.

some feds prefer to send weaker reps to a particular event for other reasons ( stronger home court advantange or travel cost expenses ? ), also China hasn't send anyone on Lake Placid ? though I agree anything can happen here as no one is really a clear frontrunner maybe Miyahara, I am more interested how Hicks will be doing coming from her injury.

Judging from this video, I honestly do not think that Hicks will make the top 3. Her posture and form seems to have declined even further after her injury. Additionally, her jumps are not nearly as stable, and without her jumps, she's basically a sitting duck.
I would go out on a limb and say Wang for 3rd, followed by Park in 2nd, and Miyahara in 1st. But judging from the most recent results, I don't know if Wang can overcome that deficit... I hope so.

Judging from this video, I honestly do not think that Hicks will make the top 3. Her posture and form seems to have declined even further after her injury. Additionally, her jumps are not nearly as stable, and without her jumps, she's basically a sitting duck.
I would go out on a limb and say Wang for 3rd, followed by Park in 2nd, and Miyahara in 1st. But judging from the most recent results, I don't know if Wang can overcome that deficit... I hope so.

I loved Angela's program choreography-wise. Everything was right to the music, the theme was clearly recognizable, there was a lot of style-appropriate transitions and she had good speed and nice, deep edges. I don't see how she scored lower on TR, IN and CH than Evgenia, whose program was a bit of hot mess as far as choreo and music cut are concerned. :(
So Young (lovely twizzles and turns) and Kako were also quite enjoyable to watch. Courtney has nice spins and great speed, but I'm not fond of the spastic, flail-y choreo. ^^'
I'm still waiting for Kiri's and Satoko's SP to be uploaded...